It's been long enough now since we last saw The Master - time for him to return in the next series, I think, by which time he'll have gone for five whole years.

It's been a bit of a disappointment to me that The Master has bypassed the Eleventh Doctor era completely (unless he shows up at the very end of Eleven's life, which to me would be too distracting from the big events).

It's been long enough now since we last saw The Master - time for him to return in the next series, I think, by which time he'll have gone for five whole years.

It's been a bit of a disappointment to me that The Master has bypassed the Eleventh Doctor era completely (unless he shows up at the very end of Eleven's life, which to me would be too distracting from the big events).

Same here, that's really one of the biggest things that disappointed me regarding Smith's departure. Simm's said that he wanted to play the Master a bit darker, and I would have liked to see how that played against Eleven.

That's why I'm hoping he lied about being involved in the 50th. I know it likely won't happen, but no harm in trying.

Yeah it would have been interesting to see Simm's Master under Moffat's writing, I think that could have worked well. I still want Simm to return, even just to Regenerate on Screen, I think he deserves that, one episode where he gets to be serious and then dies at the end.

As we saw at the end of TNOFD The Doctor and Clara are still in his time stream in which case they may have to revisit certain periods of his life in order to escape which is why we will see a lot of old monsters, one of these will contain The Master where he will find a way to escape to Trenzalore and will ultimatly be the cause of the Doctors regeneration.

I think it's possible the Master may be involved somehow in the next two episodes - with the Hurt Doctor involved, it seems quite likely that we'll be visiting the Time War, which is where The Master is right now.

I think it's possible the Master may be involved somehow in the next two episodes - with the Hurt Doctor involved, it seems quite likely that we'll be visiting the Time War, which is where The Master is right now.

It would depend which period of the Time War were visited as there is a pre Derek Jacobi Master who was involved as well as the John Simm Master who is time locked.

According to an interview with Jon Pertwee, he was scheduled to do a final story with Roger Delgado, but his premature death was a factor in Pertwee's decision to leave the series.

Yes, this would have taken place as the finale of Pertwee's fifth season. The Master would have died ambiguously, appearing to give his life for The Doctor but not obviously so. The episode also planned to imply that the two were brothers. During pre-production, Roger Delgado died and Pertwee, already starting to feel quite lonely on the show, was pushed right over the edge and resigned. Thus, Planet of the Spiders was written instead and the Third Doctor exited. Such a sad ending to the era.

Yes, this would have taken place as the finale of Pertwee's fifth season. The Master would have died ambiguously, appearing to give his life for The Doctor but not obviously so. The episode also planned to imply that the two were brothers. During pre-production, Roger Delgado died and Pertwee, already starting to feel quite lonely on the show, was pushed right over the edge and resigned. Thus, Planet of the Spiders was written instead and the Third Doctor exited. Such a sad ending to the era.

Not strictly true. JP did try and push for more money for an additional year - probably to make it worth his while as "his heart wasn't in it" as you suggest. Anyway, the BBC didn't flinch and he agreed it was probably the right time to go.